Bill Text: NY A04436 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides a procedure for village incorporation in a suburban town.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to local governments [A04436 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A04436-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4436 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 4, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ABINANTI -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Local Governments AN ACT to amend the village law, in relation to providing a procedure for village incorporation in a suburban town The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The village law is amended by adding a new article 2-A to 2 read as follows: 3 ARTICLE 2-A 4 INCORPORATION IN SUBURBAN TOWNS 5 Section 2-260 Applicability. 6 2-262 Population and area requirements. 7 2-264 Community impact statement. 8 2-266 Hearing on the community impact statement. 9 2-268 Canvass of election. 10 § 2-260 Applicability. 1. Notwithstanding article two of this chapter, 11 a town that adopts or has adopted the provisions of article three-A of 12 the town law may by resolution of its town board adopt the provisions of 13 this article for the incorporation of a new village. 14 2. Except as set forth in this article, the provisions of article two 15 of this chapter shall be applicable. 16 3. In any town where the town board has adopted this article, a new 17 village may be incorporated only after: 18 a. it is determined that there is a right to election pursuant to 19 section 2-212 of this chapter; and 20 b. the town board has held a hearing on the community impact statement 21 and scheduled a referendum pursuant to section 2-266 of this article; 22 and 23 c. the question of incorporation has been approved by voters in a 24 referendum pursuant to section 2-268 of this article. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01534-01-1A. 4436 2 1 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of article two of this chapter, 2 where the territory proposed for incorporation is located in more than 3 one town and one or more towns, but not all affected towns, adopt this 4 article, the scheduling of the referendum on the question of incorpo- 5 ration shall be determined by the provisions of this article and no 6 other provisions of this article shall apply to affected towns that have 7 not adopted the provisions of article three-A of the town law and the 8 provisions of this article. 9 § 2-262 Population and area requirements. A territory may be incorpo- 10 rated as a village under this article providing that: 11 1. the territory meets the conditions set forth in section 2-200 of 12 this chapter; or 13 2. the territory to be incorporated does not include a part of a city 14 or village and its limits are coterminous with the entire boundaries of 15 the territory of the town outside of the incorporated villages. 16 § 2-264 Community impact statement. 1. A three-part community impact 17 statement shall be prepared and filed with the town clerk of each town 18 in which the territory proposed for incorporation is located. 19 2. The community impact statement shall be written in plain language 20 in a concise manner capable of being read and understood by the public. 21 3. Within thirty days after it is determined that there is a right to 22 election pursuant to section 2-212 of this chapter, Part A of the commu- 23 nity impact statement shall be prepared and filed on behalf of the peti- 24 tioners which shall each include the information described in paragraphs 25 a, b, c, d, e, f and g of subdivision six of this section. 26 4. Within sixty days after it is determined that there is a right to 27 election pursuant to section 2-212 of this chapter, the supervisor of 28 each affected town shall prepare and file with the supervisor's town 29 clerk Part B of the community impact statement which shall include the 30 information described in paragraphs h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p and q of 31 subdivision six of this section. 32 5. Within thirty days after the completion of its hearing as set forth 33 in section 2-266 of this article, the town board of each affected town 34 shall prepare and file with its town clerk Part C of the community 35 impact statement which shall include the information described in para- 36 graphs a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p and q of subdivi- 37 sion six of this section and cause a copy to be displayed and readily 38 accessible to the public as the town board deems appropriate. 39 6. The community impact statement shall include the following items 40 and any other items which the filers of each part thereof deem appropri- 41 ate: 42 a. a proposed five year operating budget for the territory to be 43 incorporated; 44 b. a proposed five year capital budget for the territory to be incor- 45 porated; 46 c. a description of the services that would be provided by the 47 proposed village; 48 d. a description of any deficiency in services provided by the town 49 and the manner in which the incorporation would remedy the deficiency; 50 e. the estimated real property tax impact for a five year period on 51 the territory to be incorporated; 52 f. the population, demographic, socio-economic and environmental 53 impacts on the territory to be incorporated; 54 g. the impact of the anticipated land use and infrastructure needs 55 within the territory to be incorporated;A. 4436 3 1 h. a proposed five year operating budget for the area of the town 2 remaining unincorporated; 3 i. a proposed five year capital budget for the area of the town 4 remaining unincorporated; 5 j. a description of any change of services for the area of the town 6 remaining unincorporated which change is resultant from the incorpo- 7 ration; 8 k. the estimated real property tax impact for a five year period on 9 the area of the town remaining unincorporated; 10 l. the population, demographic, socio-economic and environmental 11 impact on the area of the town remaining unincorporated; 12 m. the impact of anticipated land use and infrastructure needs within 13 the area of the town remaining unincorporated; 14 n. a description of the share of any liability or indebtedness, bonded 15 or otherwise, incurred by the town on account of projects within the 16 territory proposed to be incorporated; 17 o. a description of the share of any liability or indebtedness, bonded 18 or otherwise, incurred by any special district on account of projects 19 within the territory proposed to be incorporated; 20 p. a description of the proportionate share of any liability or 21 indebtedness bonded or otherwise, incurred by the town; and 22 q. a description of the proportionate share of any liability or 23 indebtedness, bonded or otherwise, incurred by any special district. 24 § 2-266 Hearing on the community impact statement. 1. Within eighty 25 days after it is determined that there is a right to election pursuant 26 to section 2-212 of this chapter, the town board of each town in which 27 the territory proposed for incorporation is located shall cause a notice 28 to be posted: (i) on the town website, (ii) in five public places in the 29 town in the territory proposed to be incorporated, and (iii) in five 30 public places in the territory outside of the villages in the town and 31 outside the territory proposed to be incorporated. In addition, the town 32 board shall cause a copy of the notice to be published at least twice in 33 the newspaper or newspapers designated pursuant to subdivision eleven of 34 section sixty-four of the town law. 35 2. The notice shall state: that a petition for the incorporation of 36 the village of (name of village) has been received; that a community 37 impact statement has been prepared; that at town hall or such other 38 place in the town as the town board determines on a specified date and 39 time, not less than twenty nor more than thirty days after the date of 40 the posting and first publication of such notice, a hearing will be had 41 upon the consideration of the community impact of the proposed incorpo- 42 ration; and, that such petition and community impact statement will be 43 available for public inspection in the office of the town clerk until 44 the date of such hearing. 45 3. The town board of each affected town shall hold a hearing on the 46 community impact of the proposed incorporation as specified in the 47 notice. 48 4. Within thirty days after the completion of its hearing, each town 49 board: 50 a. shall issue a report on its findings with respect to paragraphs a, 51 b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p and q of subdivision six of 52 section 2-264 of this article and any other matters the town board deems 53 relevant; 54 b. file the report with its town clerk which shall constitute Part C 55 of the community impact statement; andA. 4436 4 1 c. shall cause a copy of the complete community impact statement to be 2 posted on the town website and to be displayed and readily accessible to 3 the public in any ways that the town board deems appropriate. 4 5. Simultaneously with issuing its report, the town board of each 5 affected town shall enact a resolution calling for a referendum on the 6 question of incorporation to be held within thirty days. 7 6. Where more than one town is affected, the town boards shall cooper- 8 ate, coordinate and set the same date for the referendum on the question 9 of incorporation. 10 § 2-268 Canvass of election. No incorporation shall take effect except 11 upon the affirmative vote on the question of incorporation by both (i) 12 the majority vote of those residents who qualify to vote for town offi- 13 cers in the territory proposed for incorporation, and (ii) the majority 14 vote of those residents who qualify to vote for town officers in the 15 town outside of the existing villages and outside the territory proposed 16 for incorporation. Where more than one town is affected, the affirmative 17 vote of residents outside of the territory proposed to be incorporated 18 must be an affirmative vote of each town canvassed separately. If such a 19 majority vote does not result in each separate group of voters, the 20 referendum shall fail and incorporation shall not take effect. 21 § 2. Transition; pending petitions for village incorporation. 1. If a 22 petition for the incorporation of a village has been filed and deter- 23 mined legally sufficient prior to the effective date of this act in a 24 town which adopts or has adopted the provisions of article 3-A of the 25 town law and an election to determine the question of incorporation has 26 not been held: 27 a. no election to determine the question of incorporation may been 28 held until 45 days after the effective date of this act and, if the town 29 board adopts the provisions of article 2-A of the village law, not until 30 after the town board has held a hearing on the community impact and 31 scheduled a referendum pursuant to section 2-266 of the village law; and 32 b. such town board may adopt the provisions of article 2-A of the town 33 law within 30 days after the effective date of this act; and 34 c. within thirty days after the town board adopts article 2-A of the 35 village law, Part A of the community impact statement described in 36 section 2-264 of the village law shall be filed with the town clerk on 37 behalf of the petitioners; and within sixty days after the town board 38 adopts article 2-A of the village law, the town supervisor shall file 39 Part B of the community impact statement described in section 2-264 of 40 the village law. 41 2. Except as set forth in this section, the provisions of article 2 of 42 the village law shall be applicable to any such petition for incorpo- 43 ration. 44 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.